Of Bonds
by DreamingofMeadows
Summary: Rory, the niece of a bail bond that Maude has been tracking for a while, finds herself teamed up with Trevor Philips to track down her uncle. Though, for Rory, it is more of a matter of vengeance than justice. She soon realizes that focusing on revenge leaves an emptiness inside, which is a dangerous thing when you have a 'bond' with a psychopathic meth-head. (Trevor/OC)


It was at the point where the hopefulness was just starting to leave, that she was starting to wonder if it was better to just keep doing what she had been doing, that she turned down the dusty road.

Even in her air controlled car, she could feel the heat of the desert outside. If she could describe it, she would say that it was overbearing. Hovering, always there, even when she thought she couldn't feel it. As she started to reach the end of the road, which she couldn't really bring herself to call it that, as it was more just tracks in the sand, her hopefulness was slowly starting to be compressed into suspicion. What greeted her at the end of the road was not what she had been picturing. Sure, she was aware that she was going out into the desert to meet this woman, but she always liked holding onto the idea that the whole 'stereotypes' thing was bullshit.

Yet, here it was, a rusting shelter that looked to house a cell or two, an overweight woman sitting in a plastic chair, typing away at a laptop that was resting on an old table. Everything about the area seemed so...expected. The fence that surrounded the area, made up of old sheet metal that looked like it would collapse easily enough with a solid kick, made her smirk slightly. Her car rolled to a stop a few feet from some rusted and obviously broken down cars, though there was one that looked to be in good condition, which she assumed was owned by the woman she had drove all the way out to see.

_Maude, _she reminded herself, the voice in her head sounding, rather unpleasantly, like her mother as she turned off her car, glancing towards where this Maude was sitting. The cold air was cut off, the heat hugging the air inside her car rather quickly.

_Alright, let's get this over with, _she told herself, pushing open the car door and stepped outside. She started to walk towards the main building, hands tucked inside the pockets of her jacket, a small smile crossing her face as a greeting managed to worm its way out.

"You must be Maude," she said, stopping within a few steps of the porch.

Maude glanced up at her, a small and almost laid back smile on her face. "Rory Wainwright?"

"That's me," the stranger said, nodding her head once, shifting in her stance. The polite smile on her face as she continued, though her words took on a completely new tone. "I understand that you wanted my help in finding my uncle, Christopher. Though, to be completely honest, I'm probably the last person to be asking."

"You still want to find him, don't ya?" she asked, looking up at her as Rory walked up onto the porch, her arms crossed.

"'Course I do," Rory said, nodding her head, "fucker deserves a bullet in his head, at least the way I see it, but I would be willing to... _settle_ for behind bars. Thing is, what little trail I had as to where he is currently located has gone pretty cold."

"There's ways to find a man," Maude said, "Plus, you won't be doin' this alone. I have someone to help you. He's got a real passion for this kind of thing. I think you two would work well together."

"Do you?" Rory sounded sceptical, her eyes narrowing, "Well, I had believed that I would be doing this all by myself..."

She trailed off, glancing behind herself with arms crossed. Her gaze roamed across the desert, back towards the main highway where dusty cars moved down the rather busy highways. If there was one thing that Rory had been holding onto for most of her adult life, a sort of long-term goal in her mind, was to make her uncle pay for what he did to his own family. He ripped off other people, too, of course. Yet, Rory couldn't lie to herself, her motivations were personal.

Standing out in the middle of a desert, talking to a woman who she had only contacted through email beforehand, and probably moving slowly towards heat stroke the longer she stood by the run down building, was enough for someone to turn tail and leave. If she was asked to look for anybody else, Rory would have refused at the first mention of heading out into the desert. Though, the idea of getting a location on her uncle again, and with the plus of actually _doing_ something about him, it really was enough to make her linger on the idea.

"I'd be willing to pay you," Maude said after a few moments, most likely catching the uncertainty on the woman's face, "How you would be splitting it is up to the both of you, but I would be willing to pay. More if you bring him to me alive."

"Alive?"

"I would prefer it."

Rory nodded her head, looking down at her shoes. She could get her uncle back to Maude if needed. Beaten, maybe with a limb or two missing, but she could get him back. Bringing him back alive, however, was a different story altogether.

_I have to weigh my options, _Rory told herself, rubbing the back of her neck, which was already sporting a thin layer of sweat, _Justice is justice, recipient alive or not. _

"You would be willing to find him?" Rory asked after a few moments, "I'm not exactly the best at it, but I'm not sure he is even in the city anymore."

"I'll have to have you look into that just a bit more for me, but I can get you a location," Maude said, nodding her head, "You'll just have to bring him to me."

"I can do this on my own," Rory insisted, finally getting to the root of her irritation about the whole situation.

She hated working with someone, especially with a matter which was rather personal to her. Still, she told herself that she would be willing to work with someone who was on the sidelines, yet if she agreed, she might have to work with someone directly, which meant conflict and compromise.

_Still, this might be the best shot at this you have..._

"Am I going to at least meet my partner first?" she asked after a few more moments, Maude nodding her head as she glanced back down at her computer.

"He's on his way," she said, Rory nodding her head as she turned to go wonder the area.

She pressed two fingers to her lips, letting out a sigh through her nose at the urge to have a cigarette, even if she hadn't touched them in months.

* * *

Evening settled around the desert, the temperature dropping down into something comfortable, when another vehicle entered the area. Rory glanced around the side of the building from the shade she had been standing in at the sound, tilting her head to the side at the appearance of the beat up truck, which was unexpected, though not as unexpected as the driver. He was a middle-aged man, balding, and...well, pretty disgusting. As he approached, she took note of the sweat stains on his shirt, though it was also dirty and had a few unexplained stains on them.

Rory found herself thrown off by the sudden pep in his step, the smile crossing his face as he approached Maude.

"Hello, Maude," he greeted, stepping up onto the porch. A smile crossed the older woman's face as she looked up from her computer, Rory stepping out from the side of the building to approach the two of them.

"Hello, Handsome," she greeted in return in her usual drawl that Rory was quickly growing used to, who decided to remain back a little bit as she got closer. Though, it wasn't of much use, as the man turned to look at her as she approached, a scowl crossing his face as Rory frowned at the expression.

"Who's this?" he asked, turning to look at Maude when Rory decided to speak up.

"My name's Rory. My uncle, Christopher, is our man of the hour," she explained, "Who are you?"

"Trevor Philips," he replied, Rory nodding her head as she looked over at Maude.

If she had doubted working with someone before that moment, well...

"Figured that it would be worthwhile to have her help us out Christopher Wainwright," Maude explained, "she wants bring him in as much as we do. So, I'd get going, the more we stand around, the more time we give him to get further off the grid."

"I have an idea where we could start to look," Rory said, sparing a glance at Trevor, "Might give us an idea of where to start looking, at least. If not, well, it'll be up to you, Maude."

"I'll update the both of you if I find something," she said, giving a nod of her head.

"Wonderful," Trevor said, turning towards Rory as she started to walk down towards her own car, "You're driving, sugar tits."

Rory curled her lip slightly at the nickname, this whole partnership thing already grating on her, as she turned around, placing a hand on the hot roof of her car.

"Wait, you want to leave right now?" she asked, Trevor pausing as he approached the other side of the car.

"Yeah. Why, you want to fucking _wait?_"

"Hey," Rory raised her hands slightly in a peacekeeping gesture, though her tone of voice said something different, "We are heading up to Los Santos, I thought you would want to _prepare_ in case we do end up finding him while we are up there?"

"Are you getting snippy with me?" Trevor asked, leaning forward, placing both hands against the roof of the car. There was something unsettling about his tone of voice. Hell, there was a lot of unsettling things about the man, and Rory felt that maybe it wasn't the best idea to have an argument with him when they hadn't even left the area yet.

"No," she said, her tone indifferent, one that she found came to her rather easily as she had grown older, "I thought that you would want some time, but if you are ready to go, then let's go."

She didn't wait for his reply, opening up the door to her car and got inside, turning the vehicle on. As Trevor got inside, she started to wonder why she still bothered with her uncle. The vengeance was what she had always told herself, it was the only motivation, and she did have her own way of wanting her uncle to pay. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if it was really worth all of the things that would eventually be finding their way to her.

It was the longest goal she held onto, it wasn't a healthy one, but the wait, she figured, was worth the effort. She wanted him to pay on her own terms, like she had planned.

Though, it certainly wasn't being dropped off in the hands of a woman that she had just barely met in the middle of the desert.

Worth more alive or not, she knew what she wanted, and Rory would get it one way or another.


End file.
